


Matters of the Heart

by ArinaMaron



Series: Scrapbook [7]
Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Hatake Kakashi Is Trying, Kakashi is giving advice, Not so clueless Kakashi, Sulking Teen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-04-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:48:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23610328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArinaMaron/pseuds/ArinaMaron
Summary: Kakashi gives some much needed advice to his son about crushes.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Hatake Kakashi, Uzumaki Himawari/OC
Series: Scrapbook [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1694176
Comments: 7
Kudos: 86





	Matters of the Heart

**Author's Note:**

> This is a re-post and re-edit of a oneshot written for KakaSaku Month 2018
> 
> Prompt: Truth or Dare

There were a number of responsibilities a parent had toward their child. Loving them unconditionally, even when they did the stupidest things; giving them what was the most essential for them to grow up into healthy, responsible people. And then there were the occasional exchanges of wisdom…like today.

Kakashi knew that something was wrong the moment his son entered their house. The chuunin had a weight to his steps and he was looking at the floor. Now, their family received many compliments about how beautiful their home's floorboards were, he highly doubted that Susumu would be someone to appreciate such kind of things.

"I'm home." The teen mumbled, a sigh following almost immediately. He went to the kitchen and grabbed a pack of instant noodles from one of the hidden corners of the cabinet above his head. He emitted another sigh.

"Your mother won't be happy." Kakashi stated, leaning against the doorframe of the kitchen, eyes fixed on the pack of ramen.

His son looked at the plastic wrapping and then shrugged. "Maybe she won't find out?" He had a hopeful look on his face.

"Maybe." The older man walked over to the cabinet and grabbed another pack, throwing it on the counter.

They boiled the water and prepared their respective meals in silence, at least in Kakashi's case, since the silver haired teen sighed almost every minute.

"Should I be concerned?" He asked calmly when they were sitting at the dinner table.

Susumu looked up from his steaming bowl. "About what?"

Kakashi raised a silver brow; his son was not a great actor. At all.

"Well…" He grabbed some broth with his chopsticks, and then let it fall back into the bowl. "Could you promise that you won't tell anyone?" Kakashi nodded. "Not even mom." His interest in the conversation piqued. Either his son did something really naughty, or probably worse. He nodded once again nonetheless. "Or Rina…definitely not Rina." The teen tried to suppress a shudder, failing miserably.

"You can trust me, son." It was practically impossible for him not to show how amused he was by this conversation. Susumu was never the kind of person to be hesitant in any kind of situation. It might've something to do with his constant rivalry with Rina, his older sister. Thankfully the competition between them never affected their relationship. While the two siblings never outright showed their affection towards each other, it was evident that this was only a façade and the bond the two had ran deeply.

Even though Susumu was apparently really upset by something, Kakashi didn't worry even a bit. He prided himself in knowing how to read his children, and he was quite sure that nothing really serious happened to warrant such kind of behavior from the chuunin in front of him. Considering the age his son was at, detecting the problem was quite easy.

"There's this girl…" Susumu began, staring intently at the steam rising from his bowl.

He knew it! Kakashi started eating, trying to hide the smirk that appeared on his face. Even after the few years he spent off duty, he was still perceptive enough to know what was bugging his son so much.

"A girl?" Came the question after he swallowed the noodles.

"Yes, a girl." A few drops of the ramen splattered on the surface of the table when Susumu let the picked up noodles drop back into the bowl.

"And what's wrong with this _girl_?"

"She's pretty. And she has such beautiful blue eyes." The chuunin started stirring the contents of the bowl with his chopsticks absentmindedly. "And she's nice." Silver brows furrowed, deep in thought. "And makes me feel all these stupid things."

"Oh…that's certainly a…big problem." Kakashi tried to keep a straight face.

"Tell me about it! I'm starting to make a complete idiot out of myself in front of her." The teen started rubbing his face with his palms. "I'm sure by now that she doesn't take me seriously anymore."

"It couldn't be that bad."

"I got a kunai embedded in by butt, because I was ogling her during training. In front of her." Susumu's voice was dripping with despair.

"When did this happen?" Kakashi was trying to remember the time his son had such kind of injury, but nothing popped up.

"Two days ago…you didn't know about it because Udon-sensei healed me on the spot."

"Ah."

"My dignity is forever damaged." He groaned. Kakashi decided that now was the right time to share his wisdom with the teen in front of him.

"You know, I constantly embarrassed myself in front of a girl as well." The incredulous look Susumu gave him was priceless. "I wasn't quite the ladies' man back then."

"What happened?" The chuunin straightened from his slouching position, eager to hear the details.

"It all happened on a summer night, almost twenty years ago." Kakashi began his story, a small smile gracing his lips. "I was already Hokage and was attending the birthday party of your uncle Genma."

Kakashi could still vividly remember the discomfort he felt on that night, since big parties, or parties in general were never his thing, and Genma practically invited half of the village. He tried to escape several times, but his kind friends always made it impossible for him to do so.

At least there was one person attending who constantly made him at ease in these situations. While he was eager to just be by her side the moment she appeared, he did not want to suffocate her. He only watched her from the distance in the beginning, completely stricken by her beauty.

"She was attending the party as well."

"Did you talk to her?"

"Yes, we talked throughout the night."

After he had a few drinks of course. It was ridiculous how he was acting, up until a few months ago he had no problem with casually approaching her and holding up a conversation. But for whatever reason Kakashi recently started feeling all kinds of strange things when he was interacting with her. He was quite unnerved by this recent development, since he was quite sure about what they meant. Recently he tried to distance himself from her, hoping that maybe things would change. But it wasn't that easy, because he was drawn to her company like a magnet. So, in order to numb all these annoying feelings, and still have a normal conversation with her, he needed some liquid courage. Unfortunately, they didn't really help him.

"The party started to reach its climax." Kakashi continued his story. "Your uncle Genma and Gai were quite plastered. They thought that it would be absolutely necessary to have a daring contest with me." Susumu leaned forward in his seat, all too eager to hear what happened next.

"I had to drink an entire bottle of cactus wine in one go."

His son paled. "But that's…"

"Suicide. I knew back then as well, but I still did it. After all, I wanted to impress her."

In retrospective, this was probably the stupidest thing he had ever done, and his list of bad decisions was quite long. He acted like an irresponsible teenager, who thought that the girl he wanted to show off to would swoon at such kind of achievement. Well, it was really true that you became a complete idiot when you had a crush on someone.

"And?"

"I drank the whole bottle in half a minute." Kakashi couldn't help but feel a slight bout of pride at the amazed look of his son. "At first it seemed like everything was okay. But then when I wanted to walk away my legs became jelly-like, and then the world started spinning uncontrollably."

Kakashi could still vividly recall those few seconds. How he had no command over the movement of his whole body, the people around him becoming blurs and then finally, her screaming his name before he blacked out completely.

"When I came to, I had my head in her lap, her hands emitting green chakra. Apparently I passed out and had a slight concussion." Susumu winced at that.

Kakashi wanted nothing more than to be swallowed up by the earth when he regained consciousness and remembered what happened. This was absolutely not how he wanted things to turn out. On the other hand, it was quite nice to be this close to her.

"She scolded me for acting the way I did, giving me a detailed lecture about how dangerous it is for someone to drink that much alcohol at once." Kakashi chuckled, remembering how hard it was for him to pay attention to what she said with the searing headache he had.

"Wait." The teen in front of him narrowed his eyes. "Was that girl mom?"

"Of course. She's the only one who has such power over me that I can make a fool out of myself." He looked down into his bowl, noting with dismay that the noodles have already become soggy. "And despite all of that, I still managed to marry her." Kakashi stood up from his seat and grabbed the dish. "Which brings us to the conclusion that you still have a chance with Himawari-chan."

He couldn't help but to grin at the baffled look his son sported right then. "H-how did you know?"

"I have my ways." He ruffled Susumu's silver hair as he walked past him, leaving the shocked teen behind in their dining room.

Yes, he still didn't lose his touch.


End file.
